UMaine concession could help appeal> School would keep Walsh out of playoffs

Even if the University of Maine hockey team’s ban from postseason play for next season is overturned on appeal, coach Shawn Walsh will not be behind the Black Bears bench.

In the conclusion of the appeal, and in a footnote, the university made a final concession to the NCAA Committee on Infractions and the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee:

“In the event the Infractions Appeals Committee grants relief from the ban on postseason competition, the University will not permit the head coach to coach the ice hockey team in postseason competition during the 1996-97 year.”

UMaine athletic director Suzanne Tyler said the university offered the concession to prove its intention in appealing is to protect the best interests of its student-athletes.

“We really wanted to show that the reason we’re doing this is for the kids,” Tyler explained. “We thought that it really seemed to indicate that we were focusing on the student-athlete, which is what the whole them [of the appeal] is.”

The university’s action follows the reasoning outlined in a letter written by senior hockey player Dan Shermerhorn. The letter was included in the appeal.

UMaine and Shermerhorn contend the hockey players have already been sufficiently punished, having missed the NCAA Tournament in 1993-94 in part because of games forfeited after using an ineligible player, and again last season, during the self-imposed ban on postseason.

“We would be going out there so kids have the experience and the chance to do it,” Tyler said. We really believe that they have been overly penalized.”

Tyler said the idea to withold Walsh from coaching originated with someone at Bond, Schoeneck and King, the Kansas law firm that has handled UMaine’s entire infractions case, and the appeal to the NCAA. She said Walsh approved of the idea.

“Shawn said, `Oh yes, that’s a great idea,’ ” Tyler said. “He concurred with it immediately and he said he would be willing to do that if everybody thinks it would enhance the chances [of having the appeal overturned].”

Walsh, who could not be reached for comment, has not discussed UMaine’s NCAA violations since being suspended last December.

In the appeal, the university requests the committee lift the ban on postseason play in hockey for 1996-97, and cut back on the reduction of 13 scholarships levied against the Black Bear football program. UMaine described both penalties as “excessive.”

The university also asks that the Infractions Appeals Committee, in the event it lifts the postseason ban, make the necessary adjustments to the ban on television appearances so that postseason competition could be televised.

University of Maine-Presque Isle alumni Karol L’Heureux, Anthony Flye, Charles “Sam” Pendleton and Joe Russo will inducted into the Owls Athletic Hall of Fame during Saturday’s 6 p.m. dinner at the Campus Center.

Russo, a 1979 graduate in Health, Physical Education and Recreation, co-captained UMPI basketball teams in 1977-78 and ’78-79. He twice earned All-Northeast College Conference honors.

Pendleton graduated UMPI in 1967 with a B.S. in HPER. He has been the boys soccer coach at Georges Valley High in Thomaston since 1989 and his teams have piled up an impressive 285-104-30 record.

L’Heureux, who earned a HPER degree from UMPI in 1979, was a two-year captain of the volleyball squad. She has been the athletics director at the University of New England in Biddeford since 1982, having coached the volleyball team to a 407-106 record since 1980.

Flye, who graduated UMPI in 1980 with a degree in HPER, was a four-year soccer player for the Owls. He was an all-NCC pick in 1979, when UMPI went 17-3.